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When marketers talk about inbound channels, it seems that SEO or social media becomes the default definition for simplicity's sake. Truth is, most organizations generally view inbound marketing as little more than that. Inbound communications – for example, customer-initiated contact via the Web, contact center, or at the point of sale – should be viewed as important, unified elements of a comprehensive cross-channel marketing strategy. Inbound can’t just be an add-on module or application. By combining inbound and outbound channels, marketers can drive more personalized, consistent, ROI-driven customer conversations at every interaction, including making highly relevant, customized offers. Let’s talk about how to make inbound/outbound synchronization a reality.

 

The Inbound Outbound Conundrum

Many times when companies say their campaigns are targeted or personalized, they are really referring only to outbound campaigns generated offline. Meanwhile, few companies are actually able to handle real-time inbound dialogues in a way that ensures offers made are both personalized and consistent with outbound activities. This is often because the company cannot leverage customer data across other outbound channels – or any data at all from its inbound marketing campaigns – because it does not have a single, centralized data repository. Instead, it uses basic, predefined business/marketing rules to determine cross-sells, up-sells, and hit-or-miss “latest offer” pushes.

 

By leveraging cross-channel customer data for inbound communications, organizations open new opportunities for new sales and improved customer relationships that often can’t be accomplished through outbound communications alone. For example, a targeted offer presented during a customer-initiated (inbound) contact via the Web, call center, point of sale, or ATM is two to three times as likely to convert as an offer made via targeted outbound campaigns, and, according to various analysts, about 15 times more likely than with untargeted outbound campaigns.

 

Marketers must strive to gain real-time access to an up-to-the minute single marketing view of the customer – one comprised of cross-channel inbound/outbound offer history, complete interaction history (including Web analytics), demographics, sociographics, and expressed and preferred interaction behavior. This also means going beyond integrating outbound campaigns across channels to integrating both outbound and inbound communications across channels so that all campaigns are based on the same complete set of customer data.

 

Achieving Cross-Channel Vision

To better understand the need for a cross-channel approach that spans inbound and outbound communications, think of the comforting feeling you have when you return to a business you frequently visit – whether it is a local market, coffee shop or hairdresser. You are greeted by name and receive superior customer service based on past purchase behavior and preferences. Too often, when the consumer-to-business relationship becomes more complicated – less local, across many channels with perhaps less frequent contact – this personalized dynamic is easily lost.

 

Ensuring a consistent, positive customer experience with a brand – no matter what channel of communication is being used – poses an ongoing challenge for marketers. Take email, for example. While batch email marketing campaigns may have some level of personalization, such as contacting customers in a particular geography about a sale at a regional retail outlet, these communications quickly lose their personal touch when they don’t incorporate past interactions with the customer across other channels, such as direct mail or mobile. To make matters worse, these outbound campaigns and the customer information they derive are often disconnected from any inbound communications with customers when they proactively seek information or make purchases.